What do you think of this project?

  • I like it a lot

    Votes: 68 80.0%

  • I like it

    Votes: 13 15.3%

  • I neither like nor dislike it

    Votes: 4 4.7%

  • I dislike it

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I dislike it a lot

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    85
The forest for the trees folks.

Again, I really like the proposal, but imagine for a second that we could have retained and provided density/height adjacent/behind.
 
I think it would be challenging and somewhat irrelevant to create Frankenstein architecture here. I am in support of this project, but it can't be discounted that what's being lost here is the sense of inner-community, and a sense of closeness severely lacking in today's society with our neighbors.

I think it's okay for people to sense loss with this building's demolition, I feel it, but we shouldn't also discount the new type of community that's about to evolve in the Warehouse district either.
 
Found these renderings on the Maclab website.

I thought this was going to be an all glass tower, but based on these renderings, it might not be. Some glass, and some panels and it's weird that one half of the building has more glass than the other.(clearly seen in last rendering) Also, the "balcony" face of the building is going to be punched windows with the glass railing around the entire side. Kind of reminds me of the Falcon, which I'm not a huge fan of.

Source: https://www.maclabdevelopment.com/our-work/vertical-projects-3/parks-10/
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I was walking down 108 street today. These 45 and 35 storey towers are certainly going to be on a much different scale with everything else on 108 Street. Be interesting to see how that looks and feels. I guess the biggest tower is actually on Jasper.

I still love the height, look and feel of the Mayfair. Can or will we have more of that?
 
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Stevey_G said:
I think it would be challenging and somewhat irrelevant to create Frankenstein architecture here. I am in support of this project, but it can't be discounted that what's being lost here is the sense of inner-community, and a sense of closeness severely lacking in today's society with our neighbors.

I think it's okay for people to sense loss with this building's demolition, I feel it, but we shouldn't also discount the new type of community that's about to evolve in the Warehouse district either.
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You make a good point about creating community. Setting aside the historical aspect, from the sounds of it one of the most unique features of El Mirador is its shared spaces and courtyard that foster an unusually close community of people. It is telling that this style of development is considered so unique in Edmonton and should be a wake up call for us to build things that encourage this type of social connection.

Many new developments these days seem sterile and work to create an illusion of privacy rather than spaces for people to randomly run into their neighbours. An elevator or party room aren't the same as spaces that naturally allow people to meet and mingle. Hopefully The Parks is an improvement to what exists now, but at the very least how about we get some other courtyard low-rise rentals built in the city?
 
tkoe_ said:
You make a good point about creating community. Setting aside the historical aspect, from the sounds of it one of the most unique features of El Mirador is its shared spaces and courtyard that foster an unusually close community of people. It is telling that this style of development is considered so unique in Edmonton and should be a wake up call for us to build things that encourage this type of social connection.

Many new developments these days seem sterile and work to create an illusion of privacy rather than spaces for people to randomly run into their neighbours. An elevator or party room aren't the same as spaces that naturally allow people to meet and mingle. Hopefully The Parks is an improvement to what exists now, but at the very least how about we get some other courtyard low-rise rentals built in the city?
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I agree with this in soooooo many levels!
In my late teens I used to live in a REALLY big city and the thing that made me feel like I was home and part of a community was living in a building complex with courtyards for every building and a big, central common area, shared, which consisted of a small plaza, playground, etc and, even though there were literally 32 million people living around me, whenever I got home from school, it was like moving into this cozy small town. As much as I'm 100% on board with this development, It's still a shame that we're losing a place with so much sense of community and makes me believe, like you, thar we should foster more developments with this intent.
 
Our highrise growth for the future will be predominantly condos for downtown. The concerns of lacking of closeness or community is the reason why I brought up the concepts of taking the entire block and incorporating the centre of that block to be a community centre piece- children's play ground, small pond, central out door fire pit (movable) in a multi courtyard that can host movie nights etc. Liesure sports courts and gardens on top of the podium that acts a fortress. Towers go on top of podium which will cater to families, senior retirements, adult only buildings, and rentals all with their own towers. It will be an urban gated community no matter how one looks at it; some even stated that they objected to gated communities. That said, as soon as it is a highrise or an apartment complex, it is a gated community.
 
I suppose gated community is accurate, although pejorative sounding. However, even most of the modest older two or three story walk up buildings in this city have a lock on the front door so supposedly only residents can go in, so couldn't one call them gated too?

Obviously nicer, newer buildings will not be as affordable, so there will be more segregation by income as to who can become a condo owner or renter in them. I suppose that is the eternal conundrum of housing, as older perhaps smaller run down buildings are replaced by newer, bigger ones, particularly in desirable central locations. Some cities are more restrictive in redevelopment, but that can come with its own problems. The run down buildings can become more run down and the lack of supply can cause rents to go through the roof. Then the owners of the run down buildings make a killing, but may not put much back into maintaining them.

I think perhaps the best solution is to build more affordable housing, rather than stop redevelopment.
 
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